The week of "seriously?".

Surprises are everywhere. Some of them are "jack-in-the-box" make you jump in fear surprises, some are sigh inducing, some of them take your breath away and some just make you marvel at life in general.

When I was 15 I had a surprise that to this day makes me smile. My family and I spent most days of summer at Lake Nanuet, a man made lake and club. I swam there, played there, caught tadpoles there, strung love beads there and grew up around the water. The lifeguards were nice and as a pre-teen the object of puppy love. As I got older and could converse somewhat more maturely with them I became friends with them. One young man and I talked everyday. I thought he liked a girl we both knew which was fine with me since I saw him as only a friend. Lo and behold one day we were talking about the weekend and he asked me out!! I was floored! A surprise I will never forget!

The surprise in the salt box must have been one that made my cousin wonder. Blythe was given a salt box that was in her mom's kitchen, an old one from somewhere with a story we don't know. Inside the box was a rosary! Now, really, why keep salt in a salt box if you can keep rosary beads in there? But, if you think about it, "salt is life" and faith helps us deal with life.

I surprised some people this week myself. On Wednesday night I spoke to a few hundred people at a community meeting concerning the cuts being made in our school budget that are requiring personnel cuts. One of the jobs potentially on the chopping block is mine. My speech was short and it had a prop. When you find out your time and position are considered as having "the least impact on students" you pull out all the stops. My folder was filled with cards and letters from students going back over a decade and a half. My son, using his marketing skills, switched out my plain manila folder for one of bright yellow! That way it would surely be noticed. My last surprise was how heavy it was. This marketing genius had snuck in a pile of plain paper to make it look bigger! It worked. I got applause and recognition from the newspaper and the TV station(my picture was not in the paper but I had a snippet on the local 11:00 news).

What are the surprises to come?? Well, if I knew that they wouldn't be surprises. I do know that I have everything I need right now: support from friends, family that I can lean on, faith that I will weather this storm, and salt.